A collection of micro-projects

Park is also clear about the type of engineer she hires. A surprise criterion: she looks at how they perform code reviews.

“When I take a look at our GitHub account, I find that members who actively review code tend to be the sources of new projects,” she says. They’re great problem-solvers and communicators.

Of course, Park also examines how well the programmer codes and whether their comments are easy to understand.

Attitude matters too. Autonomy is what defines Line’s engineering culture, and programmers are expected to be self-starters who initiate projects. Park abides by makaseru, which means“I leave it completely in your hands” in Japanese.

Engineers are free to join micro-projects started by their counterparts, regardless of location.

Each micro-project is part of an even larger project. These are further combined into three divisions: Platform, Game, and Family.

Engineers can switch from one project to another if they pass an internal evaluation. “For example, if you want to join the Line Group Call team, you just need to interview with the Group Call team members,” she explains.

“This is a mutual evaluation process for you to confirm if these are things you really want to do, and for the team to check if you will fit the job. If the chemistry is there, you are hired.”

An example of cross-border collaboration is Line Today, a tab within the main Line app which gives users real-time news updates. It was developed jointly by Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese programmers.

Park’s role is to keep everything aligned to the company vision. “I make an environment that enables developers to maximize their ability,” she says.

She allocates resources to projects based on how well they’re doing. “There is no day that goes by without me hearing updates, issues and solutions from the development team.”

This is part of the coverage of TIA Singapore 2017, our conference taking place on May 17 and 18.